Wire splicer clamp



June 25, 1957 J. A. sAUM 2,796,662

WIRE SPLICER CLAMP Filed Aug. 13, 1954 13 ..9'6. .a4 '1559' W6 285425.J8 -Qe/W/Js/mm Cous cLasER As wmf Twlsrcn INVENTOR.

.4 7 TOR/VE V5 United States Patent WRF. SPLCER CLAW .lohn A. Saum,Adrian, Mich.

Application August 13, 1954, SerialNo. 449,759 3 Claims. (Cl. 29-286)This invention rela-tes to wire splicers and morerparticularly to asplicer clamp for wires used in wire recorders.

It is an object of this invention to provide a'wire clamp for quicklyand eiciently splicing together brokenwires on a recording reel, orwhich may be employed to splice together the ends of wires of dierentreels so as to form one continuous reel of wire.

It is another object of this invention to provide a wire splicer clampwhich is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, light inweight and readilyportable.

It is another and still further object of this invention to provide awire splicer clamp for wire recording machines which willpermanentlysecure the wire ends togetherY in such manner as to practically insurethe splice against further breakage and whichwill pass through therecording machine without interfering with the mechanism thereof, eitherin recording or reproduction.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from Ithe followingdetailed description, forming the specication, and taken -in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the wire splicer embodying thisinvention showing the wiresto be spliced held bythe device;

Figure 2 is a top plan view -thereof;

'Figure 3 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figurel;

Figure 4. is a front elevational View ofthe twisting wheel element'ofVthe device;

lFigure 5 is a cross sectional view taken on line' 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6isa side elevational view .similar to Figure 1 but with thetwisting wheel removed and showing the Wires twisted togetherat thecompletion of the twisting operation;

Figure 7 is'a top plan view of Figure 6;

Figure S is a top plan viewsimilar to Figure 7 but showing the freeends'of thewires removed from the'jaws;

vFigure 9 is 'a sideelevational view of a pair of wires after Vbeingsplicedtoget'ner bythe wire splicer of this invention;

Figure lO'is atop plan View similar to. Figures 2, 7 `and 8 1out showingthe wires to be spliced arranged in a differlent manner;

Figure 1l is atdiagrammatic view in toprplan'showing the Wires disposedas shown in Figure 10 in their spliced or twisted-together relationafter. the use of the twisting Wheel;

Figure l2 is a view simil-ar to Figure .11 but showing the spliced wiresafter the free ends thereof have heenremoved from the jaws in which theyhave beenheld;

Figure 13 is a perspective View of oneofthe jaws showing the manner inwhich the wire may be inserted therein; and

Figure 14 is aV front'elevational view, partially'broken away,'of 'amodiiied'form of the twisting wheel.

With' continued reference to thel drawing, the wire `YsplicerLenihodyingfthis linvention' is generally indicated at 10 and comprisespairs of spaced jaws 12, 14 and 16,18, with the respective pairs beingin divergent relation to each other and adapted Ato receive wires Aand'B extending therebetween. Each pair of `spaced jaws are carried inspaced, looped legs 20 and 22 respectively of the spring frame,-generally indicated at 24, and the legs 20 and 22 are in opposedrelation with respect to each other. lThe spring frame 24 is made of aflat resilient, relatively thin spring material and has 1a bight 26extending between rand 4connect-ing lthe legs 20 and 22. The bightv 26is .pro-

vided with a central aperture therethroughso as to receive a securingmeans, such as the screw 28, therethrough so as to .secure the springframe 24upon a supporting surface, such asthe base 30. Thus, the deviceis readilyportable from one location to another, however, if it is sodesiredythe spring frame 24 may besecured upona fixed -supportingsurface such as a table top or a wall.or yany other suitable supportingsurface.

Referring once more to the Wire holding jaws `12 through. 18, it will beseen that each of the jaws comprise a pair of legs 32 and 34 whichraresecured together at one endV by 4a collar 36 and extend through theassociated leg of the spring frame, since the spring frame is providedwith an .opening therethrough for this purpose, and the ends-ofthejawlegs 32 and 34 which are secured together by the collar 36 extendIthrough the associated spring` frame leg adjacent the distal end38-thereof- The legs 32and 34 may be made of a resilient metal whichmaybe semicylindrical ink cross section so that the-flat facesY oteachleg are in face-.to-face relation, and the legs'extend up- Wardly inabutting faceta-face relation through the loop .ofthe associated springframe leg and extend througha suitableopening in the portion of theassociated looped leg intermediate its ends, as at 46, and the legs 32and 34 are secured in their 'face-t-o-face relation at this point by acollar 42, similar to the collar 36, which is disposedin abut-tingrelation with the outer surface of the associated leg through which thejaw extends. The upperends 44 and v46 respectively of the legs 32land-34 diverge from each other :as they recede fromrthe collar 42and-:extend outwardly from the associated leg,withthe terminalV endsofthe respective upper ends 44 and 46 being curved-out wardly away fromeach other so as to define a relatively '12, 14 and 16, 18 diverge fromeach other as they recede from the bight portion 26 of the spring frame24. Also, it will be appreciated that by virtue of the jaws beingoperatively connected to their associated legs of the, spring fname inthe manner hereinbefore indicated, that V.the 'looped portions of thelegs 20 and 22 adjacenteach other and remote from the -bight 26 lwill berelatively rigid while the leg portions 21 and 23 extending from the jawmembersv to the bight 26 W-ill detine springs to yieldingly urge one ofthe pairs of jaws 12, 14 away Vfrom the otherpair .16,18.

Touse the device to splice together the ends ofthe Wires A and B, whichmay lead from spools. commonly used in wire recording machines, onemanner of employing the device is shownV in Figures 2, 7,V 8 and 9. Inthese figures it will be seen that the wire Bisy clampingly secured inthe jaw 12 and extends Ibetween the legsland V22 ofthe spring frame andengaged or clampingly secured -inthe jaw 1S adjacent its free endsothatrthe wire BeXtend-s diagonally acrossrthe-bight portion 26. of `the'ispringirameV 24, Whilethe wire A is secured in the jaw Btented June25,

Y 3 16 and extends diagonally across the spring frame and is clampinglysecured in the jaw 14 adjacent its free end. Thus, the wires A and Bcross each other at approximately the transverse center line of thebight 26 of the spring frame. With the wires A and B thu-s secured inthepairs of jaws and extending therebetween, the wires are gripped at theirpoint of crossing in the jaw 50 opening to Ythe periphery of la circulartwisting wheel 52. YThe twisting Y wheel 52 is then rotated in onedirection about an axis longitudinally of the wires A and B by the handof the operator gripping the knurled peripheral edge 54 so as to causeythe wires A and B to be twisted .together in opposite directions oneither side of the twisting ,wheel 52. As the -twisting operationproceeds, the respective pairs of jaws4 will be drawn closer together,as shown in Figure 6, so that a tension is placed upon thevwires A and B-being twisted togetherrby the. resilient influence of the leg portions21 and 23 respectively defining springs.V After a sucient number ofrevolutions of the twisting wheel 52, it is preferable to allow thewheel to return one or two revolutions to permit relaxing of the tensionof the jaw 50 of the wheel to thus provide easy disengagement of thewheel from Vthesplice, and also results in an extra turn or two inthespliced wires immediately beyond the free ends thereof which will beremoved from the respective jaws 14 and 18 and then severed closely.adjacent the splice or twisted portions of the wires A and B. The extraturns in fthe wire provide protection from snagging in the spliced wireas it passes through the wire in the spool of a wire recording machine,or in passing fromrspool to spool.

With reference to the wire twisting wheel 52, the wheel is in the formof an annulus having a central opening 56 therethrough. The jaw 50comprises a pair of jaw arms 58 and 60 which may be of semi-cylindricalcrosssection and secured together in face-to-face relation adjacent oneend thereof as by a clamping ring 62, or may be welded together at thistime, the ends thus secured together being secured within the wheel 52and extending transversely across the opening 56 thereof and divergentlyoutwardly through an opening 64 transversely through the wheel 52 so asto form or define a wire-receiving entrance 66 through which the wires Aand B to be twisted and spliced together may be' guided into the jaw 50between the jaw arms 58 f1 and 60 thereof, so as to be clampinglysecured therein.

In Figure 9, the wires A and B are shown spliced together and removedfrom the splicer 1d ready for use inla wire recording machine.

In Figures 10, 1v1 and 12, there is illustrated an opl' tional manner inwhich the wires A and B may be spliced `together by use of the splicer10. The w-i-re A', in Figure l0, is gripped between the jaws 12 and 16and extend therebetween with the jaw 12 gripping the wire A' adjacentits free end, while the wire B is grippedbetween the jaws 14V and 18extending therebetween and the jaw 18 gripping therwire B adjacen-t itsfree end. The twisting wheel 52 is then placed over the wires A and B asthey are pulled together centrally intermediate the length thereofextending between the jaws in which they are secured,

as shown in broken lines in Figure l0, so that the wires A and B' willpass through the entrance 66 to be gripped between the arms of the jaw5l).V The wires A and B will then be twisted together by rotation of thewheel 52 in the manner hereinbefore described, the free ends thereofthen removed from the jaws 12 and 18 and severed adjacent the twistedwires or splice resulting from the rotation of the wheel 52, and thenthe joined or spliced wires A' and B will be removed from the jaws 14and '16 thereby forming one continuous. wire. t Y

VIn Figure 1l, there is Yshown the wiresA" and B", the freerendsofvwhich are gripped in the jaws 14 and 16 so that the spools, notshown, from which the wires Vextend will be on opposite sides of thesplicer 10 and in a posi- 'tion reversed from that Vshown in Figure 10.The wire A" extends across the splicer 10 and gripped between vmaximumclamping action and yet with relative ease 4 splicer 10 and gripped inthe jaws 14 and 18. The wires A" and B" are then brought togethercentrally intermediate their ends so that they may be received in thejaw 50 of the twisting wheel 52 and the wires then twisted together toform the splice in the same manner as the wires A' and B' of Figure 10.

`In Figure 112, the free ends of the wires A and B have been removedfrom the clamping engagement with the respective jaws 1.4 and 16, andthe spliced or twisted wires now extend diagonally across the splicer 10gripped between the jaws 1-2 and 18. The extending free ends of thewires A and B" may now be severed, and the spliced together A and B"removed from the jaws 12 and 1S of the splicer to be in condition forfurther use in a wire recording machine.

Recording wire may be spliced to a leader wire. This method wouldinvolve having the wire A, for instance, gripped in jaw 12 and passingacross 1K6 to be threaded through a loop formed in the leader wire. WireA then extends through jaw 18, wherein it is gripped, and the free endof wire A passing through the jaw 14. TheV same twistingprocedure isfollowed to twist opposite runs of wire A together, and there will beonly one free end to be subsequently severed adjacent the splice. Y

Figure 14 shows an alternate form of a twisting wheel, generallyindicated at 70, which is generally similar to the twisting wheel 62.The body 72 of the twisting wheel is in the form of an annular having acentral opening 74 and having a segment cut transversely from the bodyto define a transverse passage 76 therethrough. The pair of jaw arms 78and 80, similar to the jaw arms 58 and 60 of the twisting wheel 52, aresecured together at one end in the body 72 and extend in divergentrelation across the opening 74 through the passage 76. The ends of therespective jaw arms 78 and 80 remote from the end secured in the body 72are then laterally directed away from each other so as to contact theopposite sides of the passage 76, the jaw arms 78 and 80 defining thejaw 82 adapted to resiliently clamp a pair of wires, such as wires A andB, therebetween 4for subsequent twisting of the wires together to form asplice. The body 72 is provided with a pair of axially aligned threadedopenings 84 and 86 transversely thereto to receive therein respectiveset screws 88 and 90 which have Unthreaded end portions 92 and VV94respectively extending within 'the opening 74 and bearing against thesides of the jaw arms 78 and 86 respectively so that upon threading theset screws 88 and 90 further within the threaded openings 84 and 86, thespace between the arms 78 and may be selectively adjusted so as toadjust the gripping tension of the jaw 82. Thus, the set screws 88 and90 define adjusting means whereby the arms 7S and 80 of the jaw 82 maybe selectively moved toward and away from each other so as to have thetwisting wheel 70 accommodate wires of varying thicknesses with a ofremoval from the wires after they have been twisted together by rotationof the twisting wheel.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that there has been provided inthe basic concept, a wire splicer comprising divergent pairs of spacedjaws 12, 14 and 16, 18 adapted to receive wires, such as wires A and B,extending therebetween, and resilient means in the form of the springframe 24 which is operatively connected to the pairs of jaws toyieldingly urge one of the pairs away ,from the other of the pairs ofjaws, and a wire twisting means, wire twisting wheel 52 or 70, engagingthe wires, A and B, extending between the jaws. More particularly,Vthere has been provided a wire splicer which comprises a spring frame24 adapted to be mounted upon a supporting surface, such as the base 30or a table top or a. Wall, the frame 24 having spaced looped legs 20 and22 arranged in opposed relation, spaced jaws 12, 14 and 16, 18 carriedby each of the legs 20 and 22 respectively and disposed in divergentrelation diverging from each other as they recede from the frame 24,each jaw ot the spaced jaws upon each 1eg adapted to clamp a wiretherein with the wire extending between a jaw on each of the legs whilethe other of the spaced jaws on each leg are adapted to clamp anotherwire therein and extending therebetween to be spliced to the lrst wire,and a wire twisting means which engages both of the wires to twist themtogether to dene a splice.

It is possible, as an alternative, to splice wires a and b' as theyextend in spaced relation across the device as shown in Figure 10 butwith the spools arranged at opposite ends of the device to that shown inFigure 10, by positioning the twisting device between jaws 12, 14 and16, 18, under wire b and over wire a'. Twist the wires together by useof the twisting device, which may be a pin as well as a twisting wheel,for the required number of revolutions to insure a splice. If a pin isto be employed, it will be placed between wires a and b and then rotatedin an arcuate path about an axis apt proximately centrally intermediateof its ends so as to engage the Wire as it is rotated.

After the required number of revolutions, the twisting device will backturn a couple of revolutions to leave va loop through which the twistingdevice, such as a pin can be removed. The short -ends are then severedadjacent the splice in the manner hereinbefore described.

While there are shown and described lthe preferred embodiment of theinvention, it is to be understood that lthe structure is susceptible tochange and modification within the practicability of the invention andtherefore should be limited only by the scope of the claims appendedhereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for clamping strands of wire to be spliced by being twistedtogether, comprising a spring frame adapted to be tixedly mounted upon asupporting surface, a resilient leg arranged in an upright directionpositioned at opposite ends of said frame, and a pair of laterallyspaced upstanding jaws carried by each leg, complementary ones of saidpairs of jaws on said legs being adapted to clampingly engage a strandof wire therebetween and the complementary others of said pairs of jawsbeing adapted to clampiugly engage another strand of wire therebetween,said pairs of spaced jaws being movable toward each other against theresiliency of the associated legs upon aplication of a twisting forcedirected to the intermediate portions of said strands when supportedbetween said pairs of jaws so as to twist the strands together -to forma splice.

2. A device for clamping strands of wire to be spliced by being twistedtogether, comprising a spring frame adapted to be fixedly mounted upon asupporting surface, said frame being a flat piece of spring materialhaving a straight bight portion adapted to be ixedly secured upon thesupporting surface intermediate its ends and a looped leg arranged in anupright direction formed at opposite ends of said bight and arranged inopposing relation, a `laterally spaced pair of jaws carried by each leg,each jaw comprising a pair of upstanding legs disposed in face to facerelation extending through the looped portion of the associated leg withthe upper portion of each of said ilegs extending beyond the associatedleg, said upper leg portions being arranged in diverging relation todene a wire strand receiving entrance therebetween, complementary ones`of said pairs of jaws being adapted to clampingly hold therebetween astrand of wire received `through the strand receiving entrances andcomplementary others of said pairs of jaws being adapted to clampinglyhold therebetween another strand of wire received through said strandreceiving entrances, said pairs of spaced jaws lbeing movable towardeach other against the resiliency of the associated legs uponapplication of a twisting force directed to the intermediate portions ofsaid strands when supported between said pairs of jaws to twist thestrands together to form a splice.

3. A device for clamping strands of wire to be spliced by being twistedtogether, comprising a spring frame adapted to be xedly mounted upon asupporting surface, a resilient -leg arranged in an upright directionpositioned at opposite ends of said frame, and a pair of laterallyspaced upstanding jaws carried by each leg, said pairs of jaws beingarranged in diverging relation to each other as they lrecede from saidframe, complementary ones of said pairs of jaws on said legs beingadapted to clampingly engage a strand of wire therebetween and thecomplementary others of said pairs of jaws being adapted to clampinglyengage another strand of wire therebetween, said pairs of spaced jawsbeing movable toward each other against the resiliency of the associatedlegs upon application of a twisting force directed to the intermediateportions of said strands when supported between said pairs of jaws so asto twist the strands together to form a splice.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 352,853Brush Nov. 16, 1886 476,754 Mendelson June 7, 1892 851,955 Morford Apr.30, 1907 877,808 Tower Jan. 28, 1908 902,389 Fodor Oct. 27, 1908 902,764Rodgers Nov. 3, 1908 1,702,547 Pyle et al. Feb. 19, 1929 2,310,774 Garbeet al Feb. 9, 1943 2,688,988 Ott et al Sept. 14, 1954 2,737,917 SteeleMar. 13, 1956 2,768,428 MacGregor et al Oct. 30, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS16,762 Great Britain Sept. 15, 1904

